What is this thing you call love?
by OneWingedHeron53
Summary: After resting in Athens. Link becomes bored and starts wandering around the City of the Gods. Amongst his wanderings, he came across a curious event where a man in black would dance with a woman in white. Observing closely, he notices that the two share an emotion with each other that he does not understand. Luckily, an older woman may be able to explain it to him.


**This is just hopefully a short one-shot. Mainly as a gift for my friend; DarkLordLink's upcoming birthday. He has helped me so many times that I lost count. So, my friend. This is for you. Let us have another year of shenanigans in writing. Just as a heads up, the Link that will be portrayed here is OoT/MM Link and as such, he will share his appearance and traits.**

 **I do not own the Soul Series or Legend of Zelda in general.**

 **XoXoX**

 **What is this thing you call love?**

Within the city of Athens, a youth in a hood walked around. He has arrived in this world for one purpose and that purpose only. He has no interest in staying in this world, nor does he wish to have any ties here. Yet, despite the stand-offish attitude he developed in hopes that he can drive people away from him, there were a selected few that managed to pierce his demeanor and eventually befriend him. Eventually, he told them the truth of what he is. A young boy in the body of an adult; all for the purpose of his task which is the eradication of the evil empathetic weapon known as Soul Edge. He told them this truth, hoping it would drive them away in trying to further befriend him, but if anything it just caused them to try to become closer to him.

One such being a mother of two named Sophitia. After the revelation, she's been keeping a close eye on him and making sure he gets the proper nutrients and company. Needless to say, her mother instincts kicked in and she's treating him like he's her child. Even making him wear this ridiculous hood to conceal his ears.

Speaking of ears, he has wondered why no one else has pointed ears like he does. He was told back in Hyrule that their long ears was meant to hear the voices of the Goddesses. Which in contrast to Athens; who seem to have gods for everything, have short ears unlike other Hylians.

As he turned around the corner, his ears twitched lightly beneath his hood and he looked ahead to see a man and woman walking alongside each other whilst holding hands. Curious, he continued to observe them as they talked to each other in an odd tongue he did not understand, but its in a tone that he himself found quite...eerily to be honest. He didn't know what to describe the tone they spoke to each other in.

His ears continued to twitch as he looked around to see other couples spending some time together as if they haven't seen each other in the longest while. There would be a pair sitting at a table eating some lunch while in the square, there would be some dancing to some funny tune he quite honestly finds disturbing.

Looking around closely, he found that amidst all of these pairings, they would all focus on two particular people, one wearing a black suit and another a white gown that he honestly wondered how the woman could walk in. He studied them closer and looking at their eyes, it was as if they saw no one else but each other, dancing as if it was their last dance.

A hand touched his shoulder and he looked back. "There you are." A tall woman called out. She wasn't in her 'battle' gear and was instead dressed in a suit one would find on a noble man.

"Lady Valentine..." Link greeted the tall woman; whose name he knew as Isabella 'Ivy' Valentine. He doesn't know much about this woman, only that she joined their group with her own motives and she has showed disinterest in participating in group activities whenever they had free time, only staying wherever they stationed themselves; Sophitia's house as an example, and mentioning that they should keep traveling instead of resting. While he sort of shared her sentiment, despite him knowing his task was only the eradication of Soul Edge, he was quite curious of this world and enjoyed exploring whatever settlements they managed to find themselves in.

The woman continued to look at the young lad, "Sophitia was wondering where you were. Getting tired of hearing her expressing concern, I agreed to look for you." She explained why she left the house when normally she wouldn't. "It's quite funny that I find you at the local wedding." She revealed the reason why their were couples dancing and talking to each other.

"Wedding?" Link asked confused. Ever since he left the forest, he didn't have time to research many events and often found himself in festivals by coincidence. (He's still oblivious to the fact that he accidentally got betrothed to a certain Zora Princess.) As such, he didn't know what a wedding is.

Ivy continued to stare at him, still suspicious that he's not who he claims to be. Regardless, she decided to enlighten him, "A wedding is an event where two people who love each other very much, decide to marry and join each other in matrimony and peace." She explained the basics of a wedding.

Link continued to look confused, "Love?" He wondered, not knowing what the word is.

Ivy crossed her arms and sighed, "You really are quite green, aren't you?" She looked away from him, obviously showing impatience.

Link however, stood as oblivious as ever, "I am wearing a green hood and tunic." He pointed out, oblivious to the meaning of the sentence.

Ivy looked at him, glaring her eyes, "That's not what I meant." She then saw that if he is what he claims to be, then he truly has the mind of a child.

Link stood straight and looked down, "I am but a child in a man's body. I come from a society where children remain children forever. I'm pretty sure that there are many things we wouldn't understand in the adults world." He stated.

"But you don't actually belong to that society..." Ivy wonder quietly. "So how did you find out that you aren't what you call a Kokiri?" She asked. She didn't really care much of where he came from, but she figured she can help educate the Hero a bit.

"A tree told me." Link answered bluntly.

Ivy sighed. But there were times when he says stuff that make absolutely no sense. Even to an alchemist such as herself who educated herself in scientific research.

Link looked back at the two people who continued to dance, "So what is this thing you call love?" He asked, still curious at the thought of it.

Ivy crossed her arms, "I don't know if I should be the one to explain this to you, but..." She muttered quietly, looking at him. If he truly is a child, he should probably have no interest in it and would rather only look on curiously. She sighed and muttered something beneath her breath along the lines "Can't believe I'm doing this..."

"Lady Valentine?" Link asked, confused at her behavior.

Ivy turned to him, "Love is an emotion. An emotion that many cannot live without. When you feel a certain connection with a certain someone, you will feel that you cannot live without that person." She explained the basics of love to him.

Link still looked on curiously.

Ivy saw that he was still interested in hearing more and sighed, "While it is possible to live without loving someone else, you would not lead a very happy life." She stated one of the main benefits of loving someone.

Link looked ahead, "No wonder Taki is so gloomy." He muttered quietly. He continued to observe the bride and groom, "So these two love each other?" He asked as he noticed their gazes have not left each other for the longest time.

"A lot, I'd say." Ivy answered, "When two people love each other very much, so much that they would literally stay next to each other their entire lives. They would wed each other so that they can achieve their dreams of staying in each others lives for as long as possible." She explained the basics of a wedding to him.

Link looked at her, "Are you ever going to get married?" He asked suddenly.

Ivy glared at him, "That's a personal question I'd prefer not to answer." She snapped towards him, but Link continued to keep his demeanor and stared at her, "Even if I wanted to, I'd be too old to find a suitor for me. That said, I don't really care much for that stuff." She explained her reasons for not wanting to love someone else.

Link crossed his arms and looked ahead, "Can you teach me how to dance?" He asked. He knew he had her talk about a very uncomfortable subject, so he decided to change the subject. Of course, dancing was something he wasn't too interested in, but who knows? With his initiative, he could probably corporate it into his fighting style.

She looked at him surprised, "You want me to teach you how to dance?" She wanted to confirm what she heard in case that she didn't hear him correctly.

"That is correct." Link answered with a nod.

Ivy slumped her shoulders with a sigh, "You're going to be very insistent on this, are you?" She asked as she saw the look in Link's face. The fierce determined look etched into his eyes. Often his face was impossible to read, but his eyes showed his emotions.

Link only answered with another nod.

Again, Ivy sighed, "I'll only teach you the basics. I'm not too proficient in dancing as well." She agreed and grabbed his right hand with hers, placing her fingers between his. "Just like fighting, you have to match your opponent and follow the movements." She then guided his left arm to go under hers and then she placed her hand on his left shoulder.

Link only followed awkwardly, like he was regretting asking her to dance. Plus she was much taller than him, causing him to look up. "This must look very awkward." He muttered.

"Sorry, boy." Ivy taunted as she started to sway left and right, "You asked for it so you're going to get it." She added and continued to dance.

Link sighed. He truly only wanted to see if he can get her to laugh outside of battle, but now he wasn't sure if he has accomplished that mission as the dance was more or less a battle now. He had no intention of losing, so perhaps he can best her in dancing, she did say that dancing wasn't one of her proficient skills, so maybe he had a chance at winning.

Then again, he wondered how they managed to turn dancing into a competition. He just hopes the others won't hear of this and demand a dance from him as well. He sighed and just went on dancing with Ivy.

 **XoXoX**

 **And here it is my friend. Happy Birthday! Hope this fits your standards. And _le gasp!_ It's actually short story!**

 **I went for a more realistic approach with this story. It's stated that out of all the Link's in the Zelda series, the Ocarina of Time incarnation could be the most oblivious to love and other similar emotions as he is just a kid in an adults body. Which makes sense too in that he was raised in the Kokiri Forest where children remain children forever and they most likely wouldn't understand or have much need for love. Sorry if it isn't the romance you may have hoped for, but as I said, I was aiming for a more realistic approach. So I went for Friendship instead.**

 **I also followed the standard in that a young man wouldn't want to marry an older woman in the old days. (Although I think that was mainly in Japan and Ivy has her other reasons for not marrying as well.) Of course, I could be entirely wrong in all of this.**

 **Anyways, I hope everyone else enjoyed it and please let me know what you think of it.**

 **Have a nice day!**


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